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Protecting yourself from the silent STD, Chlamydia

Chlamydia Infection is a tricky STD and it’s on the rise. It’s silent, particularly among men, and it’s the most common STI in the UK. It’s the world’s most common cause of infertility, even though it’s preventable. But, and it’s a big but, half of all men who have it don’t know and four out of five women are similarly ignorant. This is bad news. Left untreated the disease can cause problems like ectopic pregnancy and painful infections of the testicles.

chlamydia transmission is a bacterium found in semen and vaginal fluids and is spread through vaginal, oral and anal sex or by sharing sex toys.It can live inside the cells of the cervix, urethra, rectum and sometimes the throat and eyes. The bug can cross the placenta meaning a pregnant woman could potentally pass it on to her unborn baby.

Symptoms can appear a few weeks after the bug is caught but may also take months. These include unusual vaginal discharge, bleeding between periods or after sex, pain during sex and maybe lower abdominal pain. Men may feel pain when urinating and in the testicles.If you have any suspicions that you’ve got chlamydia it’s vitally important to get tested.

We’re lucky in the UK: we have a national screening programme that gives all sexually active under-25s access to chlamydia testing, which extends to youth clubs and colleges. Any woman having an IUD fitted or having an abortion should also have a chlamydia screening test. They take several forms: a urine test, or a swab from the vagina, urethra, rectum, or throat and eyes.While chlamydia is tricky to spot, it’s easy to deal with. Antibiotics can work, although the Pill and contraceptive patches make them less effective. And there will soon be a vaccine to help you protect yourself as scientists at Southampton University have broken into the bacterium’s genetic code.

Together with researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, they have inserted foreign DNA into the bug’s genome, which means they will soon be able to map out its whole genetic code and eventually fashion a vaccine. In the meantime, an anti-chlamydia vaccine is being used on koala bears, which often carry the bug. The positive results this has produced so far could stop the koala population disseminating the disease, as many in the science world fear.

Chlamydia rise linked to testing

Escalating Chlamydia Infection rates in the region could be connected to more young people accessing testing services.

Data released by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) this week show chlamydia transmission rates in the MidCentral District Health Board area have multiplied in the past year.

Between April and June, 300 positive tests for chlamydia were returned in the region - 220 from females and 80 from males.

Anne Robertson, of MidCentral Health Sexual Health Service, said the increase in chlamydia tests could be put down to more young people accessing youth health services.

The peak age range for cases reported through the ESR was between 15 and 24, she said.

"There is an apparent increase in rate looking back retrospectively but it is always difficult to assess whether this is a true increase in rate or reflection of testing patterns," she said. "When there is an increase in numbers of cases, it is hard to determine whether there is an increase in prevalence or an increase in case detection because of increased testing."

The rate of chlamydia in the region between April and June was 177 cases per 100,000 people - up from 160 at the same time last year.

The amount of tests done in the region also increased to 1759 per 100,000 and is the highest it has been in two years.

It was difficult to estimate what or when the peak would be.

"As there is current interest in increasing the provision of youth services, there may be small ongoing increases in testing," she said. "It appears recent testing may have increased disproportionately in women as there is some divergence in notifications between males and females."

Tairawhiti District Health Board has the highest rates of chlamydia, with 353 cases per 100,000.

Chlamydia, gonorrhea tied to higher risk of pregnancy complications

Women with Chlamydia Infection or gonorrhea infections before or during pregnancy are at increased risk for pregnancy complications such as stillbirth and premature birth, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 350,000 Australian women who had their first child between 1999 and 2008. Of those women, 1 percent had at least one chlamydia infection before they gave birth, and 81 percent of those women were diagnosed before they became pregnant.

The study also found that 0.6 percent of the women had a gonorrhea infection before they gave birth, and nearly 85 percent of those women were diagnosed before they became pregnant. Half of the women diagnosed with gonorrhea had also previously been infected with chlamydia, found researchers Dr. Bette Liu, at the University of New South Wales, and colleagues.

Among all the women in the study, 4 percent had an unplanned premature birth, 12 percent had babies who were small for their gestational age, and 0.6 percent had stillborn babies.

After taking into account factors known to increase the risk of birth complications -- including age, poverty, smoking and health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure -- the researchers found that a prior infection with either chlamydia or gonorrhea also increased the risk.

Women who'd had chlamydia transmission were 17 percent more likely to have an unplanned premature birth and 40 percent more likely to have a stillborn baby. There was no increased risk of having a baby that was small for its gestational age.

For women who'd had chlamydia, the risk of an unplanned premature birth did not differ between those diagnosed with an infection more than a year before conception, within a year of conception, or during the pregnancy.

Women who had had gonorrhea were more than twice as likely to have an unplanned premature birth, but they were not at increased risk of having a baby that was small for its gestational age, according to the study published online Sept. 4 in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Not enough data existed to determine the impact that gonorrhea infection had on the risk of stillbirth.

These findings don't prove that chlamydia and gonorrhea infections actually cause pregnancy complications, but do suggest that such infections may be important in predicting pregnancy complications, the study authors concluded.